MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Moscow court has refused to acknowledge a sports arbitration ruling confirming Russian bobsledder Alexander Zubkov’s Olympic ban for doping violations, which cost him the two gold medals he won in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

Russian media reported on Wednesday that the court had ruled that the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) decision should not apply on Russian territory.

But the judgment has no effect outside the country, leaving the 2014 result unaltered and the CAS ruling intact.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) stripped Zubkov of the two bobsleigh gold medals last year and banned him from the Olympics for life because of doping violations, which Zubkov denied.

He appealed to the CAS, but the court upheld the IOC decision.

Zubkov, who has retired from competition and currently serves as the president of Russia’s bobsleigh federation, told TASS news agency: “My status as an Olympic champion on the territory of the Russian Federation is important to me.”

Russian athletes were banned by the IOC from competing formally at this year’s Pyeongchang Winter Olympics over the “systematic manipulation” of doping tests at the 2014 Sochi Games.

The IOC did allow Russians with no history of doping to compete at its invitation at the Games as neutral athletes.

Russia has vehemently denied that state-sponsored doping exists in the country.